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Milledge finds hitting stroke with Pirates

I spoke to Pirates outfielder Lastings Milledge on Saturday afternoon. He made it clear to me that he did not want to talk about his experiences with the Nationals.

The only thing he would say was that he got into some bad hitting habits with the Nationals starting in Spring Training.

It wasn’t until he broke his finger during the season that he realized that he had to go back to the old hitting style that got him to the big leagues. A person close to Milledge told me on June 30 that Milledge got into the those bad habits because he was trying to please Nationals hitting coach Rick Eckstein. This same person felt that Eckstein altered Milledge’s swing for no reason.

Milledge found his stroke on Friday, however, as he collected two hits and two RBIs against Washington. Asked how good was it to get revenge against his former team, Milledge said, “I want to do well against every team. It’s not a big deal who I do it against. I’m just trying to play well against every team and try to have an outstanding season. I don’t try to pick and choose who I play against.”

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